Higher-education supporters have formed another new group that aims to pressure the Legislature to be more generous with education funding, reports the Seattle Times. Earlier this year, University of Washington alumni formed a group, UW Impact, to push for more funding for the university. Both Washington State University and Western Washington University are following suit with groups of their own. The newest group, the College Promise Coalition, was announced Tuesday. It’s an umbrella group that includes public colleges and universities, faculty and student groups, business leaders and education organizations. “This is a broader statewide coalition that will help play a coordinating role” among all the different groups, said spokesman Sandeep Kaushik…
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U. of Florida debates flat-fee tuition
The Miami Herald reports that Florida’s state university system is mulling a one-size-fits-all tuition structure for full-time students–an idea that could lead some to graduate sooner, but also carries the risk of students biting off more than they can chew. Under the plan, which could receive final approval from the state Board of Governors as soon as November, full-time students at participating universities would pay a flat rate per semester, regardless of how many classes he or she actually takes. The pricing structure, known as block tuition, is already the norm at private universities across the country, and has been adopted by some high-profile public universities as well, including The University of Texas at Austin and UCLA. An exact pricing model for Florida schools has yet to be hammered out, and schools may decide to charge slightly different rates. If a school chose 15 credit hours as the standard, a student taking only 12 credits would be paying for a class he or she wasn’t taking. On the plus side, a student taking 18 credits would be taking an extra class for free…
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